Night of Compassion
by JenB
Summary: What happens after last night's episode, Pollo Loco? Can Logan still love Max in spite of her past?Read and find out.


  
Disclaimer: They're not mine and no money is involved.   
Author's note: This is my way of making sense of last night's ep, Pollo Loco. Enjoy and send feedback either by reviewing or email me at: eadelon@aol.com  
  
  
  
Night of Compassion  
  
By JenB.  
  
Foggle Towers 10pm   
  
Logan sat awhile longer watching Max as she stared out the window at the falling rain. She had been uncharacteristically quiet all night, but then so had he. The envelope with the horrifying pictures lay burning the proverbial hole in his lap. He struggled to process this new side of Max, to reconcile it with the Max he knew, or thought he knew, and loved. He had known he loved Max for a while now, but as Bling frequently pointed out he lived in denial. It was safer that way. No risk. But now could he, Logan Cale, seeker of truth, righter of wrongs, champion of the innocent, accept his beloved's past and leave it there? He remembered how the sight of the photos turned his stomach. He didn't fault her for it. It was what she was taught, how she was raised. What worried him was the idea that Lydecker had put in his head that she was capable of doing it again.  
  
Max's voice broke into his thoughts as she brushed past him.  
  
"Night Logan." She said softly and went into the guest bedroom closing the door behind her. Logan stared at the door a moment and then wheeled himself over to his desk. He reached for his leather-bound writing book. Time for introspection and therapy. He wheeled over to his overstuffed sofa and transferred himself from his chair to the couch. Logan leaned back against the cushions and closed his eyes in thought. Then he sat up a little straighter and began to write.  
  
Enigma  
  
I look into the night  
Fog blankets the blackness  
Obscuring my view  
Then from the mist she emerges  
Who is this angel?  
Dressed in black  
Her cover  
Layered in the night  
Will she let me in?  
Only so far  
We fear what lies beneath  
Acceptance or rejection?  
Who knows?   
That is the mystery.  
  
Later 3 am  
  
Logan woke suddenly. He found himself on the couch where he had fallen asleep. He looked around the room to orient himself. A soft whimpering sound came from the guestroom. Max! That's what must have woken him up. Logan sat up stiffly and reached for his chair. As he got closer to the room he could hear Max crying.   
  
"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry." She kept saying.   
  
Logan hesitated a minute and then entered the room. He found Max curled up on the bed still in the red robe he had given her. Her hands were balled into tight fists and she continued apologizing in her sleep. Tears rolled down her sleeping face. Logan reached out and gently wiped her tears.   
  
"Max," he said softly, "Wake up honey, you're dreaming."  
  
He shook her lightly until she startled awake with a gasp. Max wiped the tears from her face. She looked like she wanted to run and hide.   
  
"Logan! Did-did I wake you?"  
  
"Its ok. Are you ok?" Logan asked.  
  
Max looked away, a single tear rolling down her cheek.   
  
"Wanna talk about it?"  
  
"No." she said softly.  
  
"Ok, If you change your mind..." He said and wheeled himself toward the door. He was half way out the door when she weakly called him back.  
  
"Logan."  
  
He turned around and faced her.  
  
"Yeah,"  
  
"I-I don't know how...," She hesitantly began.  
  
Logan wheeled back to her bedside.  
  
"...how to deal with everything that happened." She finished.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"I stopped Ben from killing his last victim. We fought and I disabled him. Then we heard the choppers coming. Lydecker was on his way. Ben didn't want to go back. And I couldn't carry him. I wanted to save him. But he knew that I would not be able to get away. He-he asked me to ... I didn't want to ... I made it as quick as I could." She said with no emotion in her voice. But her silent tears betrayed her.  
  
"He asked you to kill him?" Logan asked trying to hide his shock. He didn't want to seem judgmental and wanted to be supportive.  
  
"Yes. I killed my brother."  
  
"You had no other choice. Who knows what he would have had to suffer if he went back."  
  
"I do. What kind of monster am I?" Max said in despair.  
  
Logan remembered what Lydecker had said and the photos.   
  
"You are not a monster, Max. You're a victim of inhumanity at incomprehensible levels. Eyes Only had a chat with Lydecker." Logan said shifting from his chair to lie beside her on the bed. He put a supportive arm around her.  
  
"Logan!"  
  
"I said Eyes Only did. He doesn't know who I am. Lydecker told me about your training. He was even so thoughtful as to leave me some of your "family" photos after a training session."  
  
"And it didn't bother you?"  
  
"Yes it did. But who am I to judge? We are all capable of great good or great evil. I think its in all of us. Its just about choice and control. You chose the good. And as for Ben, what you did was probably the greatest act of humanity he'd ever received. It was an act of mercy." He took her in his arms and held her. She resisted a little.  
  
" How can you stand to be near me? I don't deserve it. I can't stand to be near me but I don't have much of a choice. Why are you being so good to me? Why haven't..."  
  
" Because I love you, Max." Logan said, "I think I have since we met."  
  
"It's dangerous to love me." She replied.  
  
"Not the way I see it. It's more dangerous not to love you. You have given me so much. You show me how precious life is and you have helped me learn to really live for the first time in a long, long time."  
  
"Logan, I don't know if...I have so many feelings and I'm new to that. I just can't express them right now."  
  
"Its ok. When you're ready, I'll be here. Just don't shut me out. Please, just let me love you, Max. That's all I want."  
  
"Can you just hold me, Logan? Just hold me."  
  
"Sure."   
  
He wrapped his arms around her a little tighter and placed a soft kiss in her hair. Max started humming as Logan rocked her gently back and forth. He listened a minute and then recognizing the song, joined her in humming their song, Sibelious.  
The End for now. Give me feedback if you want more.  
  
  



End file.
